Investec Champions Cup: Munster 23-26 Northampton - 14-man Saints win but Irish province still go through

Northampton hooker Curtis Langdon was sent off in the first half

Northampton fought back to beat Munster in the Investec Champions Cup, despite being reduced to 14 in the first half at Thomond Park.

However, the Irish province secured the bonus point they needed to scrape through to the last 16, while the visitors extended their lead at the top of Pool 3.

Alex Mitchell opened the scoring but Munster led 15-7 at half-time through Antoine Frisch and Peter O'Mahony tries, with the new Ireland captain's score coming after Curtis Langdon was sent off and George Furbank sin-binned.

Gavin Coombes stretched Munster's lead with a 49th-minute try but Fin Smith penalties either side of a lovely drop-goal brought the visitors back into it.

The Premiership leaders grabbed victory with a Sam Graham try nine minutes from time to extend their winning run to nine matches.

Defeat left Munster in fourth place in Pool 3, nine points behind their English opponents who had already qualified before the game kicked off after three impressive wins.

Northampton grabbed control of the game early on and thoroughly deserved to take the lead through Mitchell's well-taken converted try in the 18th minute.

The England scrum-half gathered the ball off the back of a ruck and, spotting a gap between front row players Niall Scannell and Oli Jager, darted quickly through to finish well, with Smith adding the conversion.

It took the hosts some time to play their way into the game, with a Jack Crowley penalty on 32 minutes settling their nerves, though the Ireland fly-half missed a chance to add to the scoreboard three minutes later when he was just short with a long-range penalty.

Northampton went down to 14 men on 38 minutes when, after a TMO review, their captain Furbank was shown a yellow card and sent to the sin-bin for a potential tip tackle on Calvin Nash.

Smith delivered an impressive kicking performance for Northampton

The Irish province immediately took advantage of their extra man when Crowley drew in the Northampton defence well before slipping a nice offload to centre Frisch who crashed over after running a good line.

Crowley adding the extras from the kicking tee meant his side went ahead for the first time, and their grip on the game increased even further as half-time approached.

Their extra man became a two-man advantage as Northampton hooker Langdon was shown a red card for what was deemed to be reckless contact with his knee to Tom Ahern's head at the bottom of a ruck, with Ahern being forced off injured.

Graham Rowntree's men again wasted no time in punishing their opponents for their indiscipline, making their now two-man advantage pay with a try from O'Mahony, who went over in the corner after the ball was worked wide to him well.

A strong wind this time blew Crowley's conversion wide, but the hosts still went in 15-7 up at the break.

Smith brought the visitors to within five points with an early second-half penalty but Coombes reasserted Munster's control with a try, the number eight burrowing his way over from close distance.

Smith then landed a superbly placed drop-goal in between two penalties and Northampton completed their comeback when Graham went over for a 71st-minute try that was converted by the impressive Smith to secure an unlikely win for the 14 men.

Line-ups

Munster: Zebo; Nash, Frisch, Nankivell, Daly; Crowley, Casey; Loughman, Scannell, Jager; Ahern, Beirne (capt); O'Mahony, Hodnett, Coombes.

Replacements: Clarke, Wycherley, Ryan, Gleeson, Kendellen, Murray, Carbery, O'Brien.

Northampton Saints: Furbank (capt); Freeman, Dingwall, Hutchinson, Sleightholme; Smith, Mitchell; Waller, Langdon, Davison; Mayanavanua, Coles; Lawes, Pearson, Augustus.

Replacements: Smith, Iyogun, Millar-Mills, Moon, Graham, James, Odendaal, Savala.

Red card: Langdon (39)

Yellow card: Furbank (37)

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